


Day 175

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [175]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24902011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Relationships: Tomwise/OC
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [175]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 175

Worthy set his latest rune out for display on his merchant stall. Another fire rune, the most popular knd. He kept most of his works in another location, lest someone steal his work, but the fire was a crowd pleaser. The freshest ones burned the brightest and, if you knew what to burn, you could make it change colors, that always impressed the humans.

He had gathered together seven runes and was burning a rainbow on his display. It was a cheap trick but business had not been good lately and he needed the attention. It was a tumultuous time in Kirkwall which usually meant an uptick in business but with the increased templar patrols people seemed to be nervous about having anything to do with magic. The apostates were all in hiding and probably didn’t come anywhere need hightown anymore and every time Meredith made another mage tranquil it flooded the market with cheap runes, Tranquil didn’t get paid for their work so they could undercut respectable dwarven craftsmen.

Worthy had tried to look for other trades to fall back on. He tried to work as a scribe but didn’t find the same joy in monotonous writing that he did in monotonous rune tracing. He had also written a novel, but, by sheer coincidence, he had released it the same month that Varric’s ‘Hard in Hightown’ came out so nobody bought his work. The publisher even refused to publish his second work because ‘no one wanted to read his trash.’ Worthy had read Hard in Hightown and it wasn’t that great. 

His first customer of the day was his old acquaintance Tomwise, who was traveling with a dwarven woman Worthy had never met before.

“Tomwise,” he called out, “what a pleasant surprise to see you. It’s been too long.” Far too long, he thought bitterly. “Who is your friend?”

“This is Feja,” Tomwise said. “We’ve gone into business together. Feja, this is Worthy.”

“These are steep prices for simple runes,” Feja said. “Maybe you should save money by not burning your own products.”

Worthy swallowed his irritation, but he met Tomwise’s eyes and the elf blushed slightly.

“Worthy is one of the best,” he said hastily. “He takes more care and time than the circle tranquil so his runes are better quality. He also doesn't have a nosy templar watching his stall.”

Worthy smiled and nodded. “What are you looking for today?”

“Some basic runes for heating,” Tomwise explained. “Also if you have spare raw silverite for purifying mixtures we’ll take some of that.”

“Scaling up your operations are we?” Worthy said, with only a hint of jealousy. “It seems times have been good to you.” He set down his order forms/contracts and began to fill in the blanks with Tomwise. Feja watched the process with an air of disapprovement. Worthy wanted to smack the look off her face but turned his focus instead to haggling with Tomwise.

“This is ridiculous,” Feja interjected. “If we’re going to be equal partners you can’t piss money away like this.”

“You get what you pay for,” Worthy snapped. “If you want shit go to the circle.”

“I’ve always come to Worthy for runes,” Tomwise protested. “There is value in loyalty.”

“Not this much value,” Feja grumbled. “Why don’t we work out a deal with the Champion?”

“Human’s don’t runecraft,” Worthy objected. “You’re friend here’s full of sod.”

“I don’t mean the Champion himself,” Feja said. “He lives with that savant who supposedly crafted for the Hero of Ferelden. He already buys poisons from us by the cartful, I’m sure he’ll lend us the services of his runecrafter if we can make it worth his while. Cheap and quality goods are hard to come by.”

“Who’s this runecrafter?” Worthy demanded.

“Some lyrium addled kid from Orzammar,” Tomwise explained. “Hawke met him on his expedition into the deep roads all those years ago. Now he lives with the Champion and works as his personal runecrafter.”

“That two-timing bastard,” Worthy sputtered. “I gave Hawke a discount, a free tracing and my best work and how does he repay me? By cutting me out? And you,” ho pointed at Tomwise who was starting to back away, contracts unsigned. “You worked for him, same as me, but now you make poisonous for him by the cartload? Why you and not me?”

“I think I see your point now, dear,” Tomwise said. “Well it’s been nice catching up to you Worthy but I think business takes us elsewhere.” 

Worthy shouted some curses at the fleeing couple and kicked his stand in frustration. The runes tumbled over and set his cart alight. By the time he had put it out Tomwise and Feja were out of sight. 

It was Varric’s fault all over again. He had hired Hawke onto his expedition, set him up with this supposed savant runecrafter, stolen his business, sabotaged his writing career. Well he would have the last laugh, he would make sure that Varric watched his world come crashing down around him, and when it was all over, he would know that Worthy had bested him in every way. He would prove himself a better writer, he would out sabotage the saboteur and he would prove his worth to the world.


End file.
